Getting serious about your fitness, health and eating habits takes more than simply making changes. Health monitoring (by tracking your health) can help you reach your goals, understand your progress and see where improvements can be made. Whether you’re a digital gal and prefer that everything is on your phone and at your fingertips, you like the tactical properties of paper, pen and journal or you’re into wearables, there are tools and resources that help you track your progress. Here’s our roundup of the best of the bunch.
For the Digital Minded
- BetterMe: This iOS app is designed to help you meet your goals for health and wellness. It does so by offering resources such as the ability to build and change your meal plans, tap into the expertise of diet and fitness specialists and access meal plans centered around your dietary needs and habits.
- Period Calendar: Wondering if you’re entering menopause? One of the first signs that women often notice is a lack of a period, but with everything else going on in your life, it can be difficult to track them. Period Calendar (iOS) allows you to do that and more like blood flow, weight mood, symptoms and temperature.
- Sworkit: If you’re one of the millions of women who fit themselves so busy that it’s difficult to find the time to work out, Sworkit (iOS, Android) could be a good fit. The app helps you make exercise consistent and convenient while tracking your results. Whether you want to improve your muscle tone and flexibility or muscle gain and endurance are your goals, Sworkit can help.
- My Fitness Pal: When it comes to health monitoring, My Fitness Pal (iOS, Android) offers something for every woman. With the ability to sync with more than 50 apps, My Fitness Pal makes it easy to track the calories of over 11 million foods in their database. Simply scan the barcode or enter the information manually and you’ll be able to easily track your eating habits which can boost your chances of meeting your goals.
For the Pen-and-Paper Woman
- Wellness Journal: The Wellness Journal from well-known journal brand, Moleskine, offers more than just a place to record your workouts. Well-organized, the Wellness Journal provides you with a place to note your workouts as well as your warmups and any subjective feedback that comes to mind. Taken together, these can provide you with a more complete look at your workouts and where you might need to make changes. Fun stickers in the back speak to your playful side.
- Trainrite Compact Fitness Journal: Also known as the Get Shit Done journal, this resource has charts that let you record the details of up to 10 exercises with room for you to plan your next steps. Its layout makes it easier for you to remember what your personal trainer wanted you to do.
Bullet Journals
While bullet journals are a pen-and-paper form of health monitoring and tracking, they deserve their own dedicated space on this list. Unlike the journals we highlighted above, a bullet journal offers you the opportunity to create a customized system from the ground up. Because a bullet journal starts out with blank spaces, you can include a wealth of information within its pages that you might not be able to find on the shelves of your local store.
Another great thing about using a bullet journal is that you can keep everything simple and streamlined or you can bump it up a notch and turn on the fancy. The key here is to not be afraid to scrap a particular element if it simply isn’t working for you. That’s the beauty of using a bullet journal: you aren’t locked into someone’s preconceived notion of what should be included and how it needs to look.
Using a bullet journal allows you to keep your food diary, exercise log, health and wellness goals and more in one central place. You can also leave pages blank to make it easy to scribble down your thoughts. You’ll find lots of inspiration, tips and resources for creating the ideal bullet journal online.
For the Wearables Crowd
- FitBit: FitBit offers a variety of wearables that help you track information — from the basics such as steps taken and your sleep to those that combine a smartwatch with a scale and other key features. Sleek and stylish, Fitbit products fit into your active lifestyle and are always on the go with you. This always-on feature can help you make real-time adjustments to your food intake, exercise frequency and more.
Which FitBit should you buy? And Apple Watch or Fitbit? This discussion is going on in our PrimeWomen Facebook group right now (join to see).
Quotes from other Primewomen:
“I like my Fitbit Alta. It does all that and is small. I would upgrade to the one with heart rate.” “You can set your reminder for when you want to and log your water and food as well as your weight loss – it’s great”
“I have been using the Fitbit 3 since March and I love it. It is synced to my phone and iPad. And I have linked it to the app My Fitness Pal. Covers everything from steps, stairs climbed, heart rate, and sleep cycles.”
“Fitbit Ionic. Works great!”
- Apple Watch at Walmart: Apple Watch takes the responsiveness of the iOS and turns it into a wearable that is an informational powerhouse — all while sitting on your wrist. Whether you love a bright and colorful accessory or one that is more business-like, you’ll find that Apple Watch has something to suit your style. Customize the information you want to see and track with this intuitive wearable. You can also pair it with other Apple products as well as many of your favorite apps.
Quotes from other Prime Women:
“I love my Apple Watch. Does it all” “I have had the Fitbit Alta and an Apple Watch. Currently wearing the Apple Watch”
Being able to monitor your health is vital when tracking your food and exercise goals. Using the above tools puts the information you need at your fingertips. Feel free to share your experiences with our PRIME community. Visit it often to find like-minded women and to discover what works for others in your shoes.
